is a sequel to the original ''

Samurai Warriors is the first title in the series of hack and slash video games created by Koei's Omega Force team based closely around the Sengoku ("Warring States") period of Japanese history and it is a sister series of the ''Dynasty Warriors'' series, rele ...

'', created by

Koei Koei Co., Ltd. was a Japanese video game publisher, developer, and distributor founded in 1978. The company is known for its ''Dynasty Warriors'' games based on the novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', as well as simulation games based on p ...

and

Omega Force (stylised as ''ω-Force'') is a Japanese video game developer and a division of Koei Tecmo, founded in 1996 by Akihiro Suzuki and Kenichi Ogasawara, and is best known for the ''Dynasty Warriors'' video games. History Omega Force was founded ...

. The game was released in 2006 for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

and

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

, and ported to

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

in 2008. Like the ''

Dynasty Warriors is a series of Japanese hack and slash action video games created by Omega Force and Koei (now is Koei Tecmo). The series is a spin-off of Koei's turn-based strategy '' Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' series, based upon the Chinese novel of ...

'' series, an ''Empires'' expansion was released as well, and an ''Xtreme Legends'' expansion followed on August 23, 2007, in Japan. The game, alongside its two expansions, ''Xtreme Legends'' and ''Empires'' also receive a HD-enhanced port for

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

and

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territo ...

under the name ''Sengoku Musou 2 with Moushouden & Empires: HD Version''. ''

Samurai Warriors 3 is the third installment in the ''Samurai Warriors'' series, created by Tecmo Koei and Omega Force. The game was released in Japan on December 3, 2009, in Europe on May 28, 2010, in Australia on June 10, 2010, and in North America on September 28 ...

'', the sequel to Samurai Warriors 2 and the third game in the series was released in December 2009 for the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

Gameplay

The gameplay of ''Samurai Warriors 2'' builds on the first ''Samurai Warriors'' by adding new characters and new features, such as the removal of the traditional range attacks in favor of the addition of two unique special abilities that differ from character to character. For example,

Oichi was a female historical figure in the late Sengoku period. She is known primarily as the mother of three daughters who became prominent figures in their own right – Yodo-dono, Ohatsu Nagamasa had no hope of winning, and chose to commit seppuk ...

can either summon new soldiers to the battlefield or improve the combat abilities of nearby allies,

Yukimura Sanada , also known as , was a Japanese samurai warrior of the Sengoku period. He was especially known as the leading general on the defending side of the Siege of Osaka. Yukimura was called "A Hero who may appear once in a hundred years", "Crimson D ...

can either whistle to call his mount to his side or perform a flaming charge, and Ginchiyo Tachibana can either increase the strength of her weapon or summon lightning to stun nearby enemy soldiers. In addition, characters movesets can evolve in a larger variety as they level up, elaborating on either their combo, charge or special attacks, with the progression of each character being different from the next. This leads to the characters having 1 of 3 different button combos. A returning element from ''Samurai Warriors'' is the

Survival Mode Survival mode, or horde mode, is a game mode in a video game in which the player must continue playing for as long as possible without dying in an uninterrupted session while the game presents them with increasingly difficult waves of challenges. ...

(Infinite Castle in Sengoku Musou 2). In this mode, the player chooses a character and fights through an endless castle. After choosing the character, 4 random missions will be given to the player to choose from. To choose a mission the player must pay a fee to perform the mission, though there are certain missions that do not require a fee. After that, the player enters the castle, and a mission will be triggered. After succeeding in the mission, the stairway to the next floor opens, and the player will be able to proceed to the next floor where there will be another mission to complete in order to proceed to the next floor, and so on. Playable characters in the game (except for Ranmaru Mori and Okuni) have their own stories. Each story contains five stages (except for

Ieyasu Tokugawa was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fell ...

and

Mitsunari Ishida Ishida Mitsunari (, 1559 – November 6, 1600) was a Japanese samurai and military commander of the late Sengoku period of Japan. He is probably best remembered as the commander of the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the A ...

, who both have six stages), plus a "Dream Stage" or "Gaiden" (Side Quest) in the Japanese version, that effectively asks "what if". For example, Yukimura Sanada's Dream/Gaiden stage (

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu prefecture, Japan, at the end of ...

) puts him into a battle that took place historically between his fourth and fifth stages (

Ueda Castle is a Japanese castle located in Ueda, northern Nagano Prefecture, Japan. At the end of the Edo period, Ueda Castle was home to a cadet branch of the Matsudaira clan, ''daimyō'' of Ueda Domain, but the castle is better known for its association w ...

and

Osaka Castle is a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. The castle is one of Japan's most famous landmarks and it played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi-Momoyama period. Layout The main tower ...

respectively). Correspondingly, since

Mitsuhide Akechi , first called Jūbei from his clan and later from his title, was a Japanese ''samurai'' general of the Sengoku period best known as the assassin of Oda Nobunaga. Mitsuhide was a bodyguard of Ashikaga Yoshiaki and later a successful general under ...

and

Nobunaga Oda was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

both have endings where they won their historically final battles and survived, their Dream stages have them mopping up their gathered opposition. This game also contains a Sugoroku mini-game as an additional feature. Up to four players can participate in this mode, and each player has to choose a character. The game's goal is to collect the requested amount of gold (depending on the player's settings). At the beginning of the game, three flags for each player will be divided in the map, and players can earn gold and raise their ranks by collecting their respective flags and returning to their home square. Additionally, a player can buy territories on the map, or challenge another player for the control of a territory. There are six types of challenges in the game: Annihilate (requires the players to defeat as many enemies as possible), Chase (requires the players to defeat as many fleeing Fire Ninjas as possible), Destroy (requires the players to destroy as many boulders as possible), Race (requires the players to break through the doors to reach the end before the opponent does), Reveal (requires the players to uncover as many Sky Ninjas as possible), and Steal (requires the players to collect as much gold as possible). The New Officer mode from ''Samurai Warriors'' has been removed, but it was reintroduced in ''Samurai Warriors 2: Empires''.

Characters

The game features a total of 26 characters, 16 returning and 10 new, some of them former unique NPCs from previous game. Almost all characters from previous game (including ''Xtreme Legends'' additions) return with the exception of

Goemon Ishikawa was a legendary Japanese outlaw hero who stole gold and other valuables to give to the poor. He and his son were boiled alive in public after their failed assassination attempt on the Sengoku period warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His legend liv ...

Kunoichi is a Japanese cant term for . In popular culture, it is often used for female shinobi or practitioner of ninjutsu (''ninpo''). The term was largely popularized by novelist Yamada Futaro in his novel ''Ninpō Hakkenden'' (忍法八犬伝) in 1964 ...

, and

Yoshimoto Imagawa was a pre-eminent ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) in the Sengoku period Japan. Based in Suruga Province, he was known as . he was one of the three ''daimyōs'' that dominated the Tōkaidō region. He died in 1560 while marching to Kyoto to become ...

, although the new character Nene seems to be a replacement for Kunoichi due to similarities in combat characteristics and skills. Two returning characters, Okuni and Ranmaru Mori do not have their own story mode, although they still can be played in Free Mode, Survival Mode and Sugoroku (Including Mercenary Mode). Similar to previous games, the game also features two unique NPCs: Katsuie Shibata and

Kojiro Sasaki Kojirō, Kojiro, Koujirou or Kohjiroh is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: * (born 1977), Japanese footballer *, Japanese educationist *, Japanese scholar of Islam * Sasaki Kojirō (Ganryu Kojiro, c. 1585–1612 ...

that can be unlocked as unplayable special bodyguards.

Starting Characters

NEW * Ginchiyo Tachibana NEW * Kotaro Fuma NEW

Unlockable Characters

* Keiji Maeda *

* Kenshin Uesugi * Okuni * Magoichi Saika * Shingen Takeda *

Masamune Date was a regional ruler of Japan's Azuchi–Momoyama period through early Edo period. Heir to a long line of powerful ''daimyō'' in the Tōhoku region, he went on to found the modern-day city of Sendai. An outstanding tactician, he was made all ...

Nō is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...

* Hanzo Hattori * Ranmaru Mori *

Hideyoshi Toyotomi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

* Tadakatsu Honda * Ina *

Nagamasa Azai was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period known as the brother-in-law and enemy of Oda Nobunaga. Nagamasa was head of the Azai clan seated at Odani Castle in northern Ōmi Province and married Nobunaga's sister Oichi in 1564, fathering ...

Sakon Shima , also known as Shima Tomoyuki and Shima Katsutake, was a Japanese samurai of the late Sengoku period. His nickname was (Shima the right hand). Sakon eventually left the service of the Hatakeyama clan, Tsutsui Junkei, Toyotomi Hidenaga and even ...

NEW *

Yoshihiro Shimazu was the second son of Shimazu Takahisa and the younger brother of Shimazu Yoshihisa was a powerful ''daimyō'' and the 16th Chief of Shimazu clan of Satsuma Province, the eldest son of Shimazu Takahisa. He is a renowned as a great general, w ...

NEW * Kanetsugu Naoe NEW * Nene NEW *

Musashi Miyamoto , also known as Shinmen Takezō, Miyamoto Bennosuke or, by his Buddhist name, Niten Dōraku, was a Japanese swordsman, philosopher, strategist, writer and rōnin, who became renowned through stories of his unique double-bladed swordsmanship a ...

NEW

Available in Empires and Xtreme Legends

NEW * Katsuie Shibata NEW

Only Available in Xtreme Legends

* Toshiie Maeda NEW * Motochika Chosokabe NEW * Gracia NEW

Removed Characters

* Kennyo Honganji *

Expansions

''Samurai Warriors 2: Empires''

''Samurai Warriors 2: Empires'' (戦国無双2: Empires) is an expansion to the original ''Samurai Warriors 2'' and the third Empires expansion by Koei (The first was '' Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires'', and the second was '' Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires''), available for

and

, as well as

and

in a compilation with the original and ''Xtreme Legends''. The game was first released in Japan on November 16, 2006. Very similar to both ''Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires'' and ''Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires'', the game features the strategic and tactical Empire Mode that combines the gameplay of ''Samurai Warriors'' and several turn-based strategy elements from ''

Nobunaga's Ambition is a series of turn-based grand strategy role-playing simulation video games. The original game was one of the first in its genre, being released in March 1983 by the Japanese video game developer Koei. ''Nobunaga's Ambition'' takes place during ...

'' and ''

Romance of the Three Kingdoms ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' () is a 14th-century historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong. It is set in the turbulent years towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history, starting in 184 AD and ...

''. The Empire mode allows the player to select from some of Japan's greatest battles such as the

battle of Kawanakajima The were a series of battles fought in the Sengoku period of Japan between Takeda Shingen of Kai Province and Uesugi Kenshin of Echigo Province from 1553 to 1564. Shingen and Kenshin contested each other for control of the plain of Kawanakaj ...

, the

battle of Anegawa The Sengoku period (30 July 1570) occurred near Lake Biwa in Ōmi Province, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is border ...

, the incident at Honnōji and the

battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu prefecture, Japan, at the end of ...

. In the New Officer Mode, the options are limited to 13 models with 10 color patterns each, as well as four different voices. In addition, a new feature is added to the mix: the ability to use movesets of certain playable characters. Unlike ''Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends'', the game does not feature new characters for the series. However,

Kojirō Sasaki Kojirō, Kojiro, Koujirou or Kohjiroh is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: * (born 1977), Japanese footballer *, Japanese educationist *, Japanese scholar of Islam *Sasaki Kojirō (Ganryu Kojiro, c. 1585–1612) ...

and Katsuie Shibata, who were unplayable special NPCs and bodyguards in ''Samurai Warriors 2'', are now playable characters in ''Samurai Warriors 2: Empires'' with special movesets derived from other characters.

''Samurai Warriors 2: Xtreme Legends''

''Samurai Warriors 2: Xtreme Legends'' (戦国無双2: 猛将伝 ''Sengoku Musou 2: Moushouden'') was first released on August 23, 2007, in Japan for the

. It is the fifth ''Xtreme Legends'' expansion by Koei, and also the first (and only) ''Xtreme Legends'' expansion since '' Dynasty Warriors 4: Xtreme Legends'' to be released after ''Samurai Warriors 2: Empires'' (Other ''Xtreme Legends'' expansions are released shortly after the release of the original game). It shares the same achievements with the parent game on the Xbox 360. The expansion introduced new characters to the series, including Toshiie Maeda, Gracia and Motochika Chosokabe.

from '' Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends'' returned in the expansion with an updated character design, Katsuie Shibata and

from ''Samurai Warriors 2: Empires'' are also playable and have new weapons. Katsuie Shibata wields two

hand axe A hand axe (or handaxe or Acheulean hand axe) is a prehistoric stone tool with two faces that is the longest-used tool in human history, yet there is no academic consensus on what they were used for. It is made from stone, usually flint or che ...

s, while Kojirō Sasaki still carries a nodachi, but can now summon an ex-dimensional sword during battle. Because Yoshimoto Imagawa was put back into the game, the previously omitted battle of Okehazama is brought back, and Hideyoshi's Shikoku campaign against Motochika Chosokabe is also included. A new mode known as Mercenary Mode is in the game. It resembles Xtreme Mode from '' Dynasty Warriors 5: Xtreme Legends''. Playable characters can now be upgraded to level 70; in the original the highest level was 50. Bodyguards can also level up to 30, when in the original 20 was the highest level. Fifth weapons are present in the game, however, unlike the first game, the weapons has the same attack base as the original (before, the fifth weapon would have a higher attack base). Some considered it as an "alternative fourth weapon". In Samurai Warriors 2, the highest upgrade is fourth weapons. In order to play the full functionality of this game the original is required. "Import" selected on the main menu will guide you though a disk switching process. Xbox 360 players must download the expansion via the Xbox Marketplace as there is no stand alone disc available in stores. As for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita players, the game is bundled along with the two other versions of this game (the original and ''Empires''), thus the players are no longer required to use the "Import" feature. There is a cutscene in the game (Toshiie Maeda's ending) that was

censored Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

in the Xbox 360 version because it was considered too violent, so it can only be viewed in the PS2 version.

Reception

''Samurai Warriors 2''

Reviews of ''Samurai Warriors 2'' ranged from very mixed to negative.

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

and

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gave it a score of 62% and 58 out of 100 for the PlayStation 2 version; 56% and 52 out of 100 for the Xbox 360 version; and 49% and 43 out of 100 for the PC version. The only positive review came from ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'', which gave the PS2 version a score of 36 out of 40.

''Empires''

''Empires'' was met with a little more mixed reception than the original ''Samurai Warriors 2''. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 57% and 55 out of 100 for the PS2 version, and 55% and 53 out of 100 for the X360 version.

''Xtreme Legends''

''Xtreme Legends'' was met with very mixed to negative reception. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 53% and 50 out of 100 for the PS2 version, and 53% and 42 out of 100 for the X360 version.

References

External links

Koei's Official SiteSamurai Warriors 2
a
Gamecity

Official Samurai Warriors 2 Empires MinisiteOfficial Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends MinisiteAgile Sound's Official SiteTotal Casting's Official SiteOfficial Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends European MinisiteSamurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends
at Gamecity
Samurai Warriors 2 Empires
at Gamecity * * * {{Musou series 2006 video games Crowd-combat fighting games Cultural depictions of Hattori Hanzō Cultural depictions of Oda Nobunaga Cultural depictions of Tokugawa Ieyasu Cultural depictions of Toyotomi Hideyoshi PlayStation 2 games PlayStation 3 games PlayStation Network games PlayStation Vita games Koei games Video games about samurai Samurai Warriors Video games developed in Japan Video games set in feudal Japan Windows games Xbox 360 games Multiplayer and single-player video games